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Not Understood Pokémon

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This is not a thread for misunderstood Pokémon, like Drowzee(it just wants some of that dream juice!) but for Pokémon you just don’t understand the idea behind. Feel free to help someone realize what the design idea behind a Pokémon is.

For example, I don’t have any idea of what Rotom is supposed to be. Is it a ghost?
 
For example, I don’t have any idea of what Rotom is supposed to be. Is it a ghost?
A mix between a poltergeist and a gremlin (not the movie ones, the others).

What are base gligar and glisgar?
Literal flying scorpions*, like how Flygon is a literal dragonfly.

*There's actually a bug named that, although it's a fly, thankfully.
 
I understand the Mechagodzilla reference as well as the nod to duralumin, but Duraludon is also clearly based on some quite specific piece of technology and I can't for the life of me figure it out. My instinct is that it's some kind of industrial smelting kit, but it could literally just be a cigarette lighter.
 
None of the proposed origins for Jynx have ever really convinced me; they all feel like a stretch for one reason or another. Like, I can see why people are tempted to relate it to ganguro, or Brunhild, or the yama-uba. And there's not nothing to those observations, but equally, I think there's a real chance that Jynx's origin isn't anything so specific. Maybe they really did just design a weird, female humanoid monster and slap a unique type combo on it. I feel very similarly toward Heatran, for that matter.

Chingling is preposterously cute and I love it, so this isn't me saying it should be erased or anything, but I really don't understand how or why it was determined that Chimecho should have a baby stage. Like, of all the Pokémon from Gen 3 to get a baby... you pick the one whose only noteworthy trait is its artificial obscurity? It's not powerful, it's not got any unique tricks... it's just a cute wind chime creature. And all Chingling adds to it is more cuteness. Why not Tropius? Or Absol? Surely there's conceptual room for a baby version of either of them? You'd think Chimecho would be asking for an evolution instead.

I'd also love to hear the reasoning for putting a huge, irritable, spine-snapping teddy bear in the laid-back, tropical Alola region.
 
Chingling is preposterously cute and I love it, so this isn't me saying it should be erased or anything, but I really don't understand how or why it was determined that Chimecho should have a baby stage. Like, of all the Pokémon from Gen 3 to get a baby... you pick the one whose only noteworthy trait is its artificial obscurity? It's not powerful, it's not got any unique tricks... it's just a cute wind chime creature. And all Chingling adds to it is more cuteness. Why not Tropius? Or Absol? Surely there's conceptual room for a baby version of either of them? You'd think Chimecho would be asking for an evolution instead.
Bonus fact: Chimecho might have been the last Pokémon added in Gen III, making it even weirder that it got a pre-evolution next gen.
 
rotom is probably a electric will o wisp or a spirit of a person who died in a electric shock. you choose.
 
None of the proposed origins for Jynx have ever really convinced me; they all feel like a stretch for one reason or another. Like, I can see why people are tempted to relate it to ganguro, or Brunhild, or the yama-uba. And there's not nothing to those observations, but equally, I think there's a real chance that Jynx's origin isn't anything so specific. Maybe they really did just design a weird, female humanoid monster and slap a unique type combo on it.
Yeah, for better or worse Gen 1 definitely felt very experimental in the 'mon design. Aside from Jynx, Scyther is another one where I feel like they just slapped a bunch of stuff together without rhyme or reason - a bipedal mantis with scythes for hands, a lizard head and cicada wings?

Don't get me wrong, I love Gen 1 but some of those designs really were out there at times.
 
Yeah, for better or worse Gen 1 definitely felt very experimental in the 'mon design. Aside from Jynx, Scyther is another one where I feel like they just slapped a bunch of stuff together without rhyme or reason - a bipedal mantis with scythes for hands, a lizard head and cicada wings?

Don't get me wrong, I love Gen 1 but some of those designs really were out there at times.

In a way, I kind of miss it. It was the Wild West of Pokémon designs. I don't think it always paid off - look at how many "it gets bigger" or "it multiplies" evolutions there are compared to later gens - but when it did, it did so in very interesting and unique ways that you perhaps wouldn't really see from other monster series.

(To be clear, I don't actually dislike every "It Gets Bigger" or "It Multiplies" Pokémon, btw. Magneton is one of my favorite Pokémon, and I think it's surprisingly avant-garde in context, but I'm just saying that these are very conspicuously repeated maneuvers in Gen 1's design philosophy, which quickly vanish from the series as they move into the next few generations. See also "Normal Pink Blob Mons" - Clefable, Wigglytuff, Chansey, Lickitung, and Ditto all in one go? The latter two have a bit more to set them apart, but...)
 
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(To be clear, I don't actually dislike every "It Gets Bigger" or "It Multiplies" Pokémon, btw. Magneton is one of my favorite Pokémon, and I think it's surprisingly avant-garde in context, but I'm just saying that these are very conspicuously repeated maneuvers in Gen 1's design philosophy, which quickly vanish from the series as they move into the next few generations. See also "Normal Pink Blob Mons" - Clefable, Wigglytuff, Chansey, Lickitung, and Ditto all in one go? The latter two have a but more to set them apart, but...)

I like the overwhelming majority of Gen 1 species to an extent which I think surpasses mere nostalgia, but I can't help but envision some kind of board presentation situation where they take the senior team through the species roster:

"And this is Kingler, a powerful Water-type crab who uses bubble attacks and sheer strength to overwhelm foes!"

"I see, very intuitive! I like a lot of these 'types' based around elements; very clever stuff, Sugimori."

"And here we have Lickitung, a Normal-type!"

"I-sorry, Normal-type?"

"Yes, that's right. Normal."

"So, this... Lickitung uses a poison tongue in battle, like Poison-types? I've liked those so far."

"No, it just attacks... normally."

"You mean like that Machamp fellow, with kicks and punches?"

"No, this is completely different from Machamp. He's a Fighting-type. Lickitung here is Normal."

"So he does... normal things."

"Yes."
 
Speaking of, Lickitung is another of those instances that I think is probably just a guideless amalgam of ideas rather than a focused adaptation of a specific concept. And it's another one from Gen 1 that I quite like.
 
Please note: The thread is from 3 years ago.
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